You Won’t Be Alone in Next Mass Effect Game. BioWare Looking for Online Producer

Are you ready for more multiplayer in the next Mass Effect game? Senior development director of Mass Effect, Chris Wynn, tweeted a job listing yesterday.

“Things are getting real now and I need an excellent Producer to come shape online for the next Mass Effect,” Wynn tweeted.

Here’s what part of the job listing says. “Create and champion the vision of the multiplayer, connected experiences and online features of the game which respects the project leadership goals and be accountable for the quality targets and the results achieved.”

A follow up tweet from Wynn addressed some fans issue with Mass Effect having multiplayer. “Keep in mind that many people do,” Wynn tweeted.

I can see where some fans are coming from. Some games’ resources would be better spent focusing on just single-player. The most recent Tomb Raider immediately comes to mind. Great game, but the multiplayer felt tacked on. I think a focus on co-op, or an even bigger single player, would have better served Tomb Raider.

But, in Mass Effect’s case – I think a focus on multiplayer, or some kind of online component, makes sense. It already had it in Mass Effect 3, and I loved it.

Info on the next Mass Effect game is slim, but it does sound like BioWare wants to see a bit bigger of a multiplayer focus. What we do know is that exploration will be a major focus, and the Mako (all-terrain vehicle from Mass Effect 1) is returning.

Four-player co-op makes the most sense. Let us create a persistent character that works in a co-op mode (like Mass Effect 3) and can be brought in to a co-op story game with friends. As far as traditional multiplayer goes, (think COD, Halo) I’m not so sure. Mass Effect has the fan-base to support a multiplayer community, but creating a great competitive multiplayer game is tough.

No matter how you slice it, this is bad news. Its either going to turn into Diablo, a genre that even Diablo 3 could not resurrect, or yet another FPS and I seriously doubt it will be able to compete with the established ones as their player base is established and Mass Effect has a inconsequential multi-player fan base.

The past 2 years have been the most disappointing gaming years in the last 20 years. X-Rebirth – Complete flop. Sacred 3 – Complete flop. Dragon Age 3 = Kingdoms of Amalur clone (boring below average game that might have killed the franchise. User scores barely edge above 5/10 on average by thousands of reviewers… i rated it lower.). Tropico 5 – Same game with no upgrades (just a money grab). ESO – yet another plain MMO (uninspired and boring).

elvenmageus

While I enjoyed ME3’s mp, making it a major source of war assets took away from the game. As well as focusing more on the mp rather then bringing this wonderful series into a more fulfilling ending. So much promise only to have, what I felt was EA pushing, and taking away just to be like the others, Halo MP and others, removes Bioware from who they are. I have loved Bioware from Baldur’s gate because of creativity, wonderful story arcs and not falling into the norm, but rather setting a standard that other game companies should strive and work to be like. Please do not make mp a massive importance.